A Louisiana woman has been charged with killing her boyfriend’s 6-year-old daughter and then leaving the child’s body stuffed into a plastic bucket on her biological mother’s front yard.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said that the child’s father reported his girlfriend and youngest daughter missing at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday when he woke up and found them gone, according to WVUE.
Bella Fontenelle’s body was found less than an hour later, prompting a search for 43-year-old Hannah Landon. Landon was found at about 2 p.m. at a local hospital.
Lopinto would not say why Landon was at the hospital, but he said she would be booked on charges of first-degree murder and obstruction of justice when she is discharged.
Officials said that Landon had “showed up” at the Harahan Police Department just after midnight, according to WGNO. Without providing details, they said she was taken to a hospital for evaluation, but the little girl’s murder had not yet been discovered at that time.
Investigators have interviewed the girl’s biological mother and father and don’t believe they had anything to do with the murder.
The sheriff said that investigators believe Landon killed the kindergartner Tuesday night and put the body into a lidded, 10-gallon chlorine bucket. She used a wagon to haul the bucket a block away to the home of the girl’s biological mother.
A neighbor provided surveillance video showing a woman pulling the wagon down the sidewalk.
Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich said the case was definitely a homicide but that details would not be released at this time, news.
Bella was a student at St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic School in River Ridge. The school sent an email to parents saying they had notified faculty of the tragedy but delayed notification to students.
“We feel it is best for them to be with you when the news reaches them,” the email said.
The school cancelled classes for the remainder of the week, according to WDSU.
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[Featured image: WGNO screenshot]
